Wednesday, October 24, 2012

My experience of sketching on digital device started when Apple released Newton in 1994. Black & white. Bitmapped & pixelated stroke. Low resolution screen up to 320 x 240 pixels. But it was awesome! Finally I could sketch, archive it, share it through email, whenever wherever I want.

I was using the best painting software NewtPaint. I could send & receive file between Newton & Mac with desktop software. Good for archiving & printing. The screen was okay, 1 bit 320 x 240 pixels.

After Newton, I met Psion Series 5 in 1997 with built in Sketch app. 4 bit with 16 grey levels, 480 x 640 pixels. It was like, "Whoa this is it! The best sketching device!" But I hate its form factor. Series 5 was intended for business market, with folded screen & keyboard. Felt uncomfortable when drawing with palm of my hand rested on keyboard.

Then in 2000 I got second Palm device, Palm IIIx - the first was US Robotics PalmPilot - with 2 bit grey levels but smaller screen: 160 x 160. Though it was smaller with my previous 'sketching device', I love its form factor. Size wise, it fitted in my palm & my pocket. TealPaint software was my favorite sketching software, from year to year, device to device until Sony Clie PEG-UX50 in 2006.

2007, Apple introduced iPhone without stylus. It was a big disappointment for me since finger painting is not my thingy. I'm a Apple user at heart, but I never use it as sketching device. Not even iPad. Yes, there are tons of drawing app & unofficial stylus' available for iOS devices, but still, something is missing.

2012, I got Samsung Galaxy Note from a drawing competition. When I first ticked the stylus on the screen, I was surprised it recognizes my stroke pressure. Pressure sensitive stylus just like Wacom devices! This is it! So far it's the best digital sketchbook that fits in my pocket! And I couldn't stop sketching & drawing with it ever since.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Next week is Leia's 6th birthday. She has an idea: draw 25 pictures of princess (including princesses from Indonesian folklore like Bawang Merah, Timun Mas, Chandra Kirana etc) and give them to her 25 friends in the class.

So far, she already done 16 pictures. Still few pictures to go. Go Leia Go!

Monday, September 3, 2012

As family living abroad, we keep connecting our kids with our origin culture. So when they grow up with the multi-nationality society, they will not losing their identity and still have knowledge about Indonesia's culture, language, art & folklore.

In this holiday, we introduce wayang to them. We choose the Punakawan character Petruk & Bagong for the DIY wayang project. We tell the story & tale about Punakawan. They laughing madly when they know one of the character, Semar, uses fart as the weapon. After drawing the character, kids coloring it with their own colors. Purple and pink! :D

Done with coloring, now we put the join for the body & hand. Then snitch the wooden sticks for crochet.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Kids! We have cardboard! Let's create something from it!
Arwen starts creating her own project: guitar & headphone with microphone. And Neo wants a space rocket. He gets bored easily and cannot wait, so I have to do it quick & fast.

Fortunately, there are some awesome DIY cardboard rocket on the internet, like this one. Easy & can be done in minutes. Meanwhile, Arwen is busy with her project, helped by Leia. Seems they are preparing a music concert.

All done! The rocket now is flying chasing Neo, while Arwen & Leia doing their music concert.